Sarah Edwards, candidate for Didcot and Ladygrove

After university, Sarah Edwards began her career in residential social work. Since then she has worked mainly for local and national charities in London, managing and developing services. Until recently, she worked for Victim Support. Sarah has been active in the Green movement for many years. She has been a co-ordinator for Friends of the Earth and a founder member of a recycling co-op, in the days before councils' door-step collections. In recent years she has been involved in a range of campaigns on environmental and social justice issues, such as: protecting urban green spaces, opposing airport expansion, supporting local services underthreat and opposing privatisation of the NHS. Sarah has also served as a workplace union representative. She now lives in Oxfordshire.

Sarah strongly supports the Green Party’s policies and budget for the county, including the proposals for a more sustainable local economy, with more investment in areas such as energy conservation, public transport and safer cycling. She is very concerned about the planned cuts to the county’s Social Care budget and the impact on vulnerable people and their carers, and believes that a small increase in Council Tax is necessary, as proposed by the Greens. Sarah also wants to see improvements to the performance of Oxfordshire’s state schools and believes that schools should be encouraged to co-operate not ‘compete’ against each other. Following the contracting out of many public services, Sarah will continue to press for key services to remain in the public sector.